


The Invisible Scars of War

by Zygarde22



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: 1920s, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - World War I, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Night Terrors, Period-Typical Racism, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-World War I, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-06-20 23:25:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15544518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zygarde22/pseuds/Zygarde22
Summary: The year is 1921, Jamison "Junkrat" Fawkes is an veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I, now home having seen the worst of humanity on display he spends most of his time in drink, but a writer hopes to drag him out of this state and show him that he can rebuild after the war.A Post WWI Meihem AU.





	1. Under The Bottle

**Author's Note:**

> So this was an idea I had about a few hours ago. I wrote it while on a car trip to Austin Texas for RTX 2018 and now I'm posting it. I hope you guys like it and tell me what you think, hopefully I can capture the idea of what I'm going for.

The light sound of snoring echoed through the small house near the middle of the Australian Outback, a few miles outside of a town, a radio was playing in the background of the house as it’s occupant a blonde-haired veteran laid on the sofa sleeping, several discarded bottles of cheap beer strewn about. His dreams filled with the screams of his fellow Anzac brothers in arms as they died while in Gallipoli. Tossing and turning all throughout the nightmare. His not so peaceful slumber was interrupted by the loud sound of someone banging on his door.

            “Mister Fawkes!” A distinctly German accent cried from the other side of  door, “Mister Fawkes! I know you’re in there!” The voice said louder this time, Jamison tried to ignore it, least he get up and allow his hangover to take even further hold on his body.

            “Piss off you German bint!” He yelled at the door as he turned away from it hoping to down out the noise that way, this had the opposite effect and seemed to anger the person on the other side of the door.

            “What did you just call me!?” The voice yelled as she was now practically banging down the door. Finally finding the straw that broke the camels back, Jamison woke up hopped on his one good leg and opened the door. Coming face too face with the only other blonde person for miles around. 

            “WHAT!” Jamison yelled at the women in front of him, who seemed more bemused that annoyed at this outburst. The women in question was the only doctor for a few miles in the small outback town Jamison lived in a physician named Angela Ziegler.

            “Mister Fawkes, you nearly missed my house call.” Angela said as she entered the home and put down her doctors’ bag. Jamison rolled his eyes as he sat back down on the couch again, “I must say, do you have to drink so much?” Angela asked as she picked up one of the empty bottles

            “What the hell do ya think.” Jamison said as he rolled his neck to try and get a small crick in it out, Angela began her usual work on the man.

            “So how do your arm and leg feel, still feeling the sensations?” Angela asked as she inspected the amputated stubs that were Jamison’s arm and leg, a gift he got from his time in Gallipoli.

            “Yeah, I still feel the sensation if that’s what you’re wondering.” Jamison said not paying much attention to the doctor. Angela noted this and continued her inspection of Jamison.

            “Well, aside from your amputations I can’t see anything wrong.” Angela said as she picked up her bag, “Now try to actually go out and enjoy yourself Jamison rather than living in self-pity.”  Angela said as she left the house leaving Jamison alone again. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the stub that was his left arm and sighed again, next too the sofa was the prosthetic leg that he used. Attaching it to the stub of his left he began the thing that became routine for him.

            Going to the back of the house he used the water pump getting a large bucket of water, splashing some on his face, then stripping himself and then grabbing some soap and taking an impromptu cold cleaning using the bucket to wash off the suds of the soap. Drying himself off and then heading inside grabbing some fresh clothing (or as fresh as he could find,) and looking himself over in the mirror. Jamison Fawkes, former Anzac troop, veteran of the Great War, survivor.  Heading outside and getting into his truck Jamison drove to the town that he was technically a resident of.  Looking at his watch, he saw it was about one in the afternoon, which meant it was right around the time his local bar was open.

            Meanwhile driving down the dirt road a woman wearing a blue dress stopped for a moment to take in the surroundings. Cursing in mandarin she looked at the map again, this was the right town at least the outskirts of it.

            “Ugh, I hope this isn’t another dead end.” Mei said as she wiped the sweat from her brow, not all that used to the intense heat of Australia’s summer months, a far cry from her childhood in Rural China, and especially different from her current life in New York.  Hopefully she wouldn’t run into as many calling her names as she did in England. Mei was a book writer working mainly on contemporary history and for the past two years had been unsuccessfully been trying to find Great War veterans to sit down so she could write a book about their time during or after the war. Her latest information (thanks to a woman she met a few months ago named Ziegler,) said she could find a veteran who served in Gallipoli with the Anzacs.

            Getting back into her car she continued into the town, it was what would call the quintessential small town in the Australian countryside, filled with mostly older people, few younger ones and a sort of air that whispered small town. Her first stop would be to meet Miss Ziegler at her office and get some idea where they should go to meet this veteran.

            The office was not that hard to find since it was the only physician’s office in the town and it had a clear sign on the outside that said “Dr. Ziegler’s Medical Practice.’  Parking outside of the practice Mei entered the office to see the blonde doctor writing on a typewriter.

            “Um, Doctor Ziegler.” Mei said catching the doctor’s attention, upon seeing the younger women Angela perked up and walked up to Mei and shook her hand.

            “Ah, Miss Zhou, welcome, welcome I wasn’t expecting you today, I would have brought out refreshments.” Angela said as she went to a tin box in the corner of her office and pulled out a few cups and a kettle to pour some tea.

            “It’s fine, I wasn’t really expecting to come today either, but I got a lucky break when it came to getting into the country.” Mei said as she sat down in the chair opposite of Angela, a cup with grounded tea leave in front of her as the kettle boiled.

            “Well its good you’re here, I just talked to your subject today.” Angela said as she typed up some other things on her typewriter.

            “Really, so tell me who is he, you didn’t really give me a name?” Mei asked as she heard the kettle in the background whistle indicating it was ready to be poured, taking note of this Angela grabbed the kettle and poured them each a cup of tea, with Mei adding a few cubes of sugar to hers.

            “Ah, yes Mister Jamison Fawkes, he is an…. interesting man.”  Angela said, trying to come up with a good way to describe Jamison, that stuck out to Mei, and she inquired further.

            “So, by interesting what do you mean?”  Mei asked, Angela tried to think of how best to expound upon on this, but it would be best to show the women herself.

            “I think it best that you see what I mean.” Angela said as she led Mei to the bar that Jamison frequented. The bar itself was rather seedy even for a bar in a small town in the outback. Most of the patrons eyed the two women and went back to their drinking. The only person who paid them any mind was the bartender who had a large scowl on his face.

            “You come to get the idiot?”  The bartender asked as he cleaned a pint glass with his washcloth, and motioned at a clearly drunk Jamison who looked at the two and scowled at them.

            “Oh, come on why you wanna throw me out Thomas?” Jamison asked in his drunken state, “What have I b-been a terrible customer?” He added hiccuping a bit during the middle of his sentence. Thomas the bartender was non-too pleased by this and narrowed his eyes at Jamison.

            “Sorry mister Thomas I’ll be sure to get my patent home.” Angela said as she hefted Jamison over her shoulder with the help of Mei. As they lead him to Mei’s car to drive him home, luckily it seemed Jamison had passed out in his drunken state.

            “This is my subject, he seems less of a veteran and more of a well…. drunkard.”  Mai asked as she examined Jamison in his sleeping state a glob of droll rolling down his mouth.

            “Yes, Mister Fawkes is an interesting case.” Angela said as she glanced at the man in his incapacitated state. Arriving at Jamison’s home in a few minutes and digging through his pockets for his keys, Mei and Angela deposited the man on his couch.

            “I’m sorry this was your first meeting of Mister Fawkes, but hopefully when he is in a soberer state you can talk to him.” Angela said as she bid a goodbye to Mei who turned to the sleeping Jamison and sighed, this was going to be a long process.


	2. The First Interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm surprised at how popular this got in the last couple of days, well I'm glad people liked this. oh and FYI in the future of the story, most things in italics are flashbacks or in the past in general.

_Jamison yawned as he sipped a mug of coffee, a rather rare luxury where he was on the frontlines of Gallipoli, so he savored every drop of it. He alongside a few other troops were being routed by their commander some bloke by the name of Rogerson to blow up a bridge that the Ottomans were using toe move troops and a few supplies across._

_“Hey, Roadie?” Jamison called to his travel companion a large Maori man from New Zealand by the name of Mako Rutledge. The man was huge even by Maori standards, standing at seven feet tall (taller than the rather tall Jamison.) And despite the Ottomans never using gas during the entire conflict, wearing his gas mask at all time._

_“What.” Mako said exasperated, he was watching Jamison’s back as the smaller man placed TNT onto the bridges supports, and Jamison true to his hometown nickname of Junkrat, had tinkered with the explosives a bit, to give them some extra oomph._

_“What are ya gonna do after the war?” Jamison asked as he placed the fuse of the TNT and began spooling out the det cord from its position in his rucksack, “Me, I think I’m gonna just retire back to my hometown, marry some beauty of a Sheila and just enjoy life as a war hero.” Jamison said as he motioned for Jamison to back up alongside with the rest of the group as he connected them to the plunger detonator after running to a minim safe distance (and he did mean minim) Jamison placed his hands on the plunger and smiled, this was the part of his job he loved the most._

_“Alright buckos! Fire in the hole!” Jamison yelled as he pushed the plunger and the TNT exploded taking out the bridge with great fanfare._

            Waking up with a start Jamison looked around him, trying to figure out where he was, the radio was playing tuned to the same station he always had it tuned to, so it was probably his home but how did he get home. Clutching his head and feeling the effects of the binder he went on the day before he tried to piece together what on earth happened.

            “Jesus, what did I do last night.” He asked himself as he tried to take in his surroundings. Before he could get his bearings, he heard a knock on the door. No German accent so it wasn’t his doctor knocking to bother him, so that was a plus.

            “Um, Mister Jamison, can I speak to you.” He heard a distinctly feminine voice say, but not one he recognized, putting on his fake leg he walked over to the door and opened it to come face to face with an Asian woman, she was wearing a blue stout dress and had her hair in a bun.

            “The hell do you want?” Jamison asked indignant at being disturbed at this time of the day, still clearly hungover and not in the best state of mind.

            “Mister Jamison, my name is Mei-Ling Zhou, I’m a writer and I’ve been looking for a veteran of the great war to-” before she could finish her sentence Jamison shut the door on her face, much to the women’s annoyance, “Mister Fawkes, please let me interview you!” Mei called from the other side of the door.

            “Piss off!” Jamison said as he went to the sink in his kitchen and poured himself a glass of water to drink.

            “Please, you’re the last person I can go to, no one else would even give me the light of day.” Mei said still on the other side of the door. This annoyed Jamison to no end.

            “I said piss off!” Jamison yelled at her again, trying to drown her out by turning up the radio he was listing, still undeterred by Jamison’s rather hostile reception Mei continued to try to get an audience with him.

            “But Doctor Zeigler said you would gladly talk to me,” Mei said this caught Jamison’s attention, how did she know Doctor Zeigler? “Please just let me talk to you.” Mei begged again. Opening the door Jamison looked Mei in the eyes and narrowed his.

            “Why the hell do you care so much, the war was three years ago, I know I sure as hell am trying to put it behind me.” Jamison said trying to not think of his part in the conflict, not think of what he seen or what happened to him.

            “Because, who else is going to chronicle the stories of the soldiers, please sir, your my last hope for this book.” Mei said desperate to get some kind of victory from this entire trip otherwise she’d have paid $300 for a trip from New York to Australia. The look she was giving Jamison was a pleading one, taking a deep breath and letting out a deep, deep sigh of exasperation Jamison capitulated and invited the women in.

            “Fine, I need a drink.” Jamison said as he went into his kitchen, he normally went to the bar to get drunk, but if that wasn’t an option he would settle for the moonshine that some of the farmers gave him a while back ago. The stuff tasted like piss, and kicked like a mule but it was better facing anything he had to do sober. Taking a long swig of the swell and coughing a bit he offered some to Mei but she respectively declined.

            “A-alright, let’s get this shit done.” Jamison said as he sat down, across from Mei who took out a journal and a pen, “So where do ya want me to start?” Jamison asked hoping to get this over as quickly as possible.

            “Well, I guess what was your job in your unit?” Mei asked hoping to start some of the ground work for the book, she knew very little about Jamison, aside from the fact he served in the Great War, and he was an Anzac.  Letting out a deep sigh Jamison started explaining.

            “Well, let’s see I was a member of the 1st Australian Field company, I’m…well I was an engineer.” Jamison said for a split second remembering what he did before the war lit up his eyes, but that spark went away soon enough when he remembered the present, a quick glance to the arm he lost part of it.

            “Me and a bunch of other blokes, some from the Australian Field Company a few others from the New Zealand Field Company mostly worked on blowing up bridges and stuff, y’know cut off the enemy and stuff.” Jamison added, explaining a bit more of what he did for his work in the army.

            “I see, so besides that what did you do?” Mei asked writing down with great interest what Jamison was saying.

            “Not much, when I wasn’t blowing up bridges, me and my mates were trying to not get shot at, or shoot at some Ottomans.” Jamison said a bit annoyed. Mei glanced at her watch on her wrist and put away her pen and pad.

            “Well, this was great Mister Fawkes, mind if I come back sometime in the week to continue interviewing you?” Mei asked waiting with bated breaths to hear his response.

            “Fine, whatever.” Jamison answered, not paying her much attention as he saw her get up and leave. That’s what they always did once they got what they wanted, leave, everyone always left no matter what, and then he would be alone, just him and the ghosts that haunted him. Hearing his door shut, Jamison laid down on the sofa that served as his bed for the past few years and let himself drift off into another nightmare filled sleep.


	3. The Truck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So took me a while to make this chapter, but I like how it turned out and I'm thankful to all you who've read the story, I didn't think this would get as popular as it did, so from the bottom of my weird heart, thank you and keep reading and what not.

            The sound of typing filled the room as a window sat ajar slightly letting in the warm summer air roam throughout the room. The soft clicks and clacks of a deft and skilled hand working on a typewriter.

            Mei had began typing up the first parts of the manuscript that would be her book, most of it was useless fluff for the most part, talking about the probable causes of the Great War and a few other things, mostly padding until she got to the meat of her book. Still it was better than nothing, a few months ago she was uncertain she would even be able to write the damn thing, so to have an admittedly less than willing subject for said book was a godsend in her opinion.

            Taking a sip of her coffee Mei cursed lightly in Mandarin noticing the slight cramp in her hands, this was probably a good indication that it was time to take a break. Stepping out of her room inside Doctor Ziegler’s home she went to the kitchen to find something to eat, returning back to her work she began talking about Jamison in more detail.

            From her first impressions of the former Anzac she could tell he was an…ornery sort. Rather brash and a bit confrontational, still the information he did share with her was invaluable in her work on the book. After a few more hours of work, Mei crashed on her work desk, not the most comfortable sleeping surface but, when you were as much of a workaholic as she was it was often better than nothing.

The next morning, she woke up showered and went into the town to do some sightseeing. The town that she was in was small, common for towns nestled in the Australian outback from what she read. Still while she was here, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was…unwanted, judging by the dirty looks that some of the townsfolks would give her but, she had yet to be called any of the slurs she’d been used to, so that was a plus in her opinion. And while she was in town, she saw this as a great opportunity to ask around about Jamison, the first spot she tried was the bar that she found him in the first day she arrived.

The bar itself was still as seedy as it was when she first met Jamison in it, and per usual many of the patrons gave her some rather underhanded looks as she walked in and made her way to the bartender’s area.

“What can I get ya?” The man said in a thick Australian accent. Mei thought for a moment and decided to just get some water for the time being.

“So, what do you know of Mister Fawkes?” Mei asked the bartender as he poured her a glass of water. The man scowled at that name, not a good sign Mei thought.

“That drunk? He’s a disgrace to the uniform that’s what he is.” The man said as he continued to staff the bar, this caught Mei’s attention, and decided to press for more information.

“What makes you say that?” Mei asked as she took out her notepad and began to write, hoping to get some more insights into Jamison’s life from people who knew him.

“Everything, he had such promise, but what does he do he comes back and just drinks and drinks.” The bartender said, “You know before I came here I fought in a few wars, and I ain’t like that little milk sap.” The man said as he left to go attend to some other business, Mei was surprised at this but kept that to herself. Getting up a few clearly drunk patrons of the bar unfortunately stopped her.

“Eh, Jimmy, check it out, I ain’t ever seen a gook who could w-write English before.” The man hiccupped out to his partner bumping him in the shoulder, Mei sighed and tried to push past them, but again was stopped.

“Come on girly, me and my mate ain’t to picky with the girls we pick up, what’s say we have some fun, eh?” The drunk said Mei narrowed her eyes, this seemed to make the man laugh as he talked to his friend, “Eh, look her eyes are even more slant.” Mei having enough of this simply did what she always did when faced with rowdy drunks; a light application of force.

Using her left foot Mei brought the heel of her foot squarely into the man’s nether regions. Causing him to let out a yell of pain and fall to the ground clutching his crotch.

“Now, if you excuse me I have things to do.” Mei said as she left the bar, getting into her car she drove a few minutes to Jamison’s house. When she arrived, she was greeted to a bit of a change Jamison was out in the front of the house tinkering with his truck. She could still see the bottle of moonshine next to him as he worked.

“So, do you like working on cars?” Mei asked as she walked up to where Jamison was, he was under the truck on a rolling board. Rolling from under the car Jamison saw Mei smiling down at him and scowled.

“Yeah, what’s it to ya.” Jamison said as he continued to work on the truck reaching into his tool box grabbing another tool as he continued to work on the truck. Mei watched him work on the truck for a few more minutes, it was fascinating to see a person who was an expert in something going to work on any type of machine but like many things, this watching was interrupted when she heard the sound of another car pull up, emerging from it were the two drunks that harassed her in the bar. Cursing in Mandarin Mei ducked into the house.

“Stall them!” She shouted as she hid, she was good at dealing with people, but she was not in the mood for this. Jamison rolled from under the truck and shouted back.

“Stall who!?” Just in time for the two drunks to approach him.  Sitting up he got a look at them they were two guys he knew only as Mike and Eric.

“What do you lot want.” Jamison said as he got up from his truck and popped open the hood to look inside the engine.

“You seen that gook bitch?” Eric asked his speech a bit slurred clearly still heavily drunk, Jamison didn’t pay him much mind as he continued to work on his truck, “Hey ya washed up soldier, did you see that slant eye bitch.”

“Fuck off, I’m doing my work.” Jamison said as he continued to work on his truck. Jamison continued to work on his truck, the two men bickered with one another to see who would bother him before they decided to just give up and drive off, when Jamison was sure the coast was clear, he called out to Mei.

“They’re gone.” He said as he closed his trucks hood and got inside to start it up to see if his repairs worked. Emerging from the house Mei was surprised by the fact that Jamison even decided to help her.

“Thank you so much, Jamison.” Mei said as she heard the trucks engine start up. Jamison had a wide grin his truck had been on the fritz for a while so having it back in working condition was great.

“Ah, don’t mention it, I hate those bastards anyway.” Jamison said as he turned off his truck, got out took a swig of his moonshine he offered it to Mei, but she respectively declined.

“Well I can’t thank you enough Jamison, I’ll see you tomorrow for another interview.” Mei said as she left Jamison to his own devices. Taking a deep breath, he got in his truck and went to go buy more booze.

That night Mei added into her book about Jamison and how despite his rather brash nature, he was probably a kind man underneath the alcoholism, and ornery nature. Hopefully she would be able to bring out that side of him more as she interviewed him and got more of his story.


	4. Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day, I'm on a roll today, anyway this one was one I wanted to write from the beginning of the story since we don't know much about Junkrat's actual past in the real Overwatch so I thought this up, any way I hope you guys like this chapter.

            _White, all that Jamison could see was white, he was unsure where he was, his eyes couldn’t see past the bright, bright white of the light of the that was blinding him , blinking for a few moments his eyes, he was unsure where he was, he was in a bed, was back home in Australia the bed didn’t look like his old one. A woman approached him dressed in a nurse’s uniform, was he in a battlefield hospital?_

_“Oh, my goodness your awake, I’ll get the doctor.” The nurse said as she walked away, Jamison was still very much out of it and couldn’t sit up very well, when the nurse returned a Doctor was standing in front of him holding a clipboard._

_“Good day Private Fawkes.” The doctor said as he put a hand on Jamison’s shoulder, “Now Private, this is a delicate…situation I’ve been placed in, I think it would be better for you to see for yourself. The man said as he lowered the left side of the blanket, allowing for Jamison to see what the doctor was talking about and the horror dawned on him. From his elbow down was missing, Jamison began to hyperventilate and tried to get up from the bed but tripped when he noticed he didn’t have a left leg, screaming Jamison was freaking out at what became of him._

            Jamison woke up with a start, looking at his amputated arm and letting out a tired sigh, he glanced at the watch on his wrist which read  “1:30” he looked out the window of his home and saw that the sun was peaking up, indicating that it was the afternoon. Getting up he Jamison clutched his head momentarily, reeling from the hangover from his binge drinking the night before. Getting up from the sofa that he called his bed Jamison walked to his kitchen poured a cup of water and downed the lukewarm liquid quickly letting out another tired and fatigued sigh. Looking around him Jamison saw the fruits of his labor last night, ten bottles of local beer and enough whisky to down an elephant. Before he could fully admire his work, a knock on the door resonated through his small home.

            “Jamison it’s me.” He heard the voice of the person who’d been bothering him for the past couple of days, a bubbly and in his opinion too damn nosey Chinese writer by the name of Mei.

            “What do you want!?” Jamison asked as he sat back down on his couch intent on sleeping the day away again.

            “Well today is our interview day.” Mei said as she sounded to upbeat for what amounted to an interview with a drunkard about his life during a war that was worth less than a damn, letting out another sigh Jamison hopped over to door opened it and welcomed Mei into his home yet again. It took Mei only a few seconds to set up with her notepad and pen.

            “Alright, what do ya want to know.” Jamison asked as he took a sip from an opened beer that was on the table, flat but still enough of a bite to keep him buzzed. Turning to a fresh page, Mei began her interview.

            “So, I’ve asked you about your life during the war, or some of it any way, what was your life pre-war, I don’t’ mean pre-enlistment I mean, before well everything?” Mei asked hoping to get some idea as to Jamison’s life before he turned out the way he did. Jamison was a bit bemused that she would even care about something like that but, if it would get this interview over with quicker he would oblige her with the answer.

            “Well, their ain’t much to tell I was born here, in this house I guess twenty-five years ago.” Jamison said as he recounted his birth, “Ma said I was a small thing when I was a baby, if she could see how tall I am now, she’d laugh at that statement.” Jamison said with a light chuckle.

            “What was your mother like, miss…?” Mei trailed off unsure of what Jamison’s mother was named.

            “Hannah, she was a nice lady, my ma.” Jamison said as he thought of his mother, probably for the first time in a few years, “Despite my dislike she would have loved you.” Jamison said noticing he got a slight redness out of Mei as he said that,

            “W-well I’m not sure about that, so what about your father?” Mei asked writing down some of Jamison’s response and waited for his newest one, Jamison laughed at the mention of his father odd to Mei, but she continued to wait  for his response.

            “That fuck, he walked out on Ma and me when I was real young, never even got a name, the only thing he gave me ever in my life was the last name Fawkes.” Jamison said as he took another swig of his beer, “I hope he’s dead.” Jamison said with a grim seriousness to his eyes.

            “I take it your mother had a hard time raising you all by herself.” Mei asked, Jamison looked down not looking Mei in the face.

            “She did some things that she wouldn’t mention to make ends meat, I never bothered asking her even when I was old enough to understand what she was doing.” Jamison said, Mei deciding to not press any further with the question.

            “I’m sorry about that, I’m sure she would have been proud to see you in your uniform when you enlisted.” Mei said as she put away her notepad, not wanting to drudge up any more unwarranted memories from Jamison’s past.

            “Yeah, she would have… I can show you where she’s buried.” Jamison said, Mei was apprehensive at first, feeling she would be treading on some rather sacred ground, especially since he’d never met Hannah.

            “I um, if that’s okay with you.” Mei said trying to weasel her way out of seeing the grave, but the look Jamison gave her told her he would not accept no as an answer, so she got into his truck and the two took a long, long drive a drive of a few hours. During the drive Mei was looking as the Australian countryside passed them.

            “So, why are you taking me to see your mothers grave?” Mei asked trying to liven up the silence of the drive, Jamison chewed on the question for a few minutes before answering.

            “I guess…you’re the first person besides that damn German quack who’s given so much as a fuck about me, I guess I owe you to show you something about me that not many get to see.” Jamison answered as he continued to drive to where his mother was buried.

            “I guess that’s a good thing…” Mei said not sure how else to continue, she waited and watched as the hours ticked away, by the time they arrived at the grave the sun was setting.

            “Well we’re here.” Jamison said as he stopped the tuck getting out of it he showed Mei the grave, alongside a few others, “This is the Fawkes family grave or at least the few members known worth burying.” Jamison said as he showed the few tombstones that littered the area.

            “Some of them ain’t Fawkes the majority of em’ are my ma’s family, the Greenwoods” Jamison said as he went to the bed  of his truck and pulled out some moonshine taking a large swig of the hearty drink.

            Mei looked at the few names etched on the gravestones, most of them were of Greenwoods with one lone Fawkes among them, the stone read “Here lies Hannah Fawkes, loved mother.”

            “So, what was it like when she died?” Mei asked, hoping she wasn’t dredging up memories that he wanted long buried.

            “It was probably worse then when I lost this.” Jamison said as he showed his stump of an arm, “You really ain’t ready to ever lose your parents, especially when your only seventeen years old.” Jamison said as he took another swig of moonshine.

            “I see, so I take it you took of mechanic work to make due.” Mei said as she sat down on the hood of Jamison’s’ truck. Jamison sat beside her and nodded. The stars were out for that night, far away from anything even remotely resembling civilization, Jamison offered Mei some of his moonshine and for once she accepted it, taking a small swig of the biting liquor.

            “Well let’s head back don’t wanna be out here when the dingoes show up.” Jamison said as he got in the truck, the idea of wild canines attacking them did not sit well with Mei, so she did the same. The drive was just as long going back, by then Mei had fallen asleep. Having no place to put her, Jamison deposited the sleeping women in the bed that his mother slept in, hoping she didn’t mind while he crashed on the couch as usual, for once his dreams were filled with the past of his mother and of youth, he liked these dreams when they lasted.


	5. Battlescars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is probably the heaviest chapter I've written for this story, and has some rather violent imagery so people who aren't you know, good with that might wanna skip it, or at least the italicized parts. Anyway enjoy. Also this is probably the first showing of the two's feelings for one antoher, expect that to expand later.

            Mei let out a tired yawn as she felt the rays of the morning sun beaded down harshly on her face, the window of the room she was in didn’t have any curtains, so the early morning sunshine had a most profound effect on her ability to continue to sleep. Sitting up she looked around, her glasses having been placed somewhere else, so she couldn’t quite make out the room she was in, it had a strange smell to it, like a place that hadn’t been touched for years. Looking around she managed to locate her glasses on the nightstand next to the bed, putting them back on her face, she was able to take in the area around her, the room was floral themed with a wallpaper with a large variety of flowers.

            “Where…where am I?” Mei asked as she looked around to figure out where she was, this wasn’t the room she was staying in at Angela’s house so it had to be someplace different, she glanced at the nightstand where she found her glasses and saw a picture that gave her an idea as to where  she was, it was a picture of a women much older than Mei standing next to a boy who looked remarkably like a Teenaged Jamison.

            “Am I in Hannah’s room?” Mei asked herself as she got up, she was still wearing her dress and everything, so she was glad that nothing underhanded happened last night, she was a relatively light weight when it came to alcohol, it did not help that the moonshine that Jamison seems to be fond of was especially strong. Looking around she took in the surroundings of the room, it looked untouched, which was unsurprising , Jamison slept on the couch and it didn’t look like he was to keen on going into this room.

            “I wonder if this place has a shower.” Mei asked herself as she looked for any kind of place to bathe, she was not to picky, when she found nothing she looked outside in the back and saw a lone water pump.

            “This is gonna suck.” Mei said as she looked around to make sure no one was around to see her, which was unlikely they were in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the Australian outback in the early morning hours, the chances of another human being walking by and seeing a naked Chinese woman bathing using a water pump were probably so astronomically low, there was a physics paper probably written about it. After making 100% sure that she was alone and that no one would walk out and see her Mei discarded her dress, her bra and panties and began pumping the water to bathe herself.

            Meanwhile Jamison was just waking up, for once not as hungover as he could probably be, a major accomplishment given his current lifestyle. Going about his usual routine he decided that he needed to take some time and wash away some of the grime he’s accumulated over the past couple of days. Taking out some relatively fresh clothes, Jamison walked out to where his bathing water pump was. There aren’t many things that can stop a person like Jamison in his tracks, but a naked Chinese woman cleaning herself with his water pump is on that list. The two locked eyes for a split second before Mei started screaming in Mandarin punching him in the chest and back making him move.

            “Ey, Ey, what the hell!” Jamison shouted as he was pushed back into his house, a few minutes later a now clothed Mei walked inside clearly still angry.

            “Oi, oi what the hell are you fuming at?” Jamison said as Mei gave him a dirty look, “Besides how was I supposed to know you were out there in the buck, I normally don’t have any one here let alone a fine woman.” He said rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, Mei glared at him but even stronger with the “fine woman” comment.

            “Look, let’s forget it happened, I have things to write, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mei said as she got her notebook and left. Upon arriving back at where she was staying she began to write about . She remembered what Jamison told her the day before and began to write down with a great amount of enthusiasm about Jamison’s life before he enlisted. She managed to get a lot of info about him from the other townsfolk who knew him, (at least some info from the ones who didn’t automatically turn her away due to her race.) She learned a lot about him from them. She could tell by the way they talked about him he had a life that few could come out of in any good shape, raised by a single mother, and then orphaned as a teen making due as a mechanic and seller of fixed old cars.

            She also learned more about Jamison’s like directly after the war, or rather after he was sent home from the war with his injuries, it was not a pretty thing to hear about him struggling to adjust to no longer having two of his limbs. These were all things that made great content for her book and as she typed her mind wandered to the comment Jamison said about her, Mei knew she was attractive by most conventional standards, but for Jamison to be so brazen about it was rather funny to her, pushing that to the back of her mind she continued to work on her book well into the day and the night, before passing out on her desk as per her usual routine.

            Jamison on the other hand that day spent most of it doing what he liked to do, drinking his sorrows away at the bar, he had managed to scrounge up some money from doing a few odd jobs around town that day to pay for a few rounds at the sleazy establishment, by the time he was kicked out and made his way home he had drank a good bit. Driving home (something he’d done so many times while drunk he mastered it by this point in his state of alcoholism.) Crashing on his couch he dreamt another dream of his past in Gallipoli.

            _Standing behind a trench, his Lee–Enfield rifle by his side Jamison took a few deep breaths, in and out, in and out. He was not sure of why he was, so nervous, he and his buddies had done this a dozen times, “Jump over the trenches, assault the enemy’s position and take it.” This was routine, but then again part of said routine was watching a dozen of his buddies get shot down by Ottoman machine guns or blown apart by grenades and artillery. Pushing this aside in this mind he heard the whistle that singled for the first push into the enemy trenches._

_“Soldiers, Advance!” Their commanding officer yelled as Jamison alongside several dozen soldiers rose from their trenches and rushed across the desert sand an explosion rocked next to him, an artillery shell that hit a bit too close to him but didn’t knock him down allowing to continue his advance. In front of him one of his fellow Anzac’s was cut down by a machine gun falling down, bleeding from his chest each breath he sucked in flooding his lungs with blood._

_“Keep running, keep moving, don’t stop, if you stop you die, don’t die, don’t die. “This was the mantra Jamison repeated again and again, in his mind to keep himself from dying on the frontlines, it so far worked. Jumping into the enemy trench, Jamison now had only a little time to do what he was trained to do; Kill other humans. Jamison shot an Ottoman soldier in his chest causing the man to fall down, dead he cycled the bolt and fired another shot missing narrowly._

_Screaming in Arabic a soldier rushed Jamison, bayonet’s fixed. This made Jamison freeze in his tracks, before he regained his composure just in time for him to pull out his side arm a Weebly revolver and shoot the man dead. Breathing heavily Jamison still could not get his head around killing other people._

_“MUT!” A man shouted in Arabic pushing Jamison to the ground, trying to choke Jamison with his bare hand. His vision was going white, he was on the brink of death, but he had to fight him off._

_“G-Get off me ya bastard!” Jamison kicked the man off him and jumped onto of  him punching the assailant with reckless abandonment , “DIE, DIE, DIE!” Jamison yelled as he punched and punched and punched, not caring his hand were covered in blood, not caring that the battle was over, and his side had won. Survive that was all that he could do; nothing else mattered, nothing else._

Jamison was woken up when Mei was shaking him, his breathing was heavy, and he was covered in a cold sweat.

“Jamison, Jamison it’s okay.” Mei said a look of pure fear on her face. Looking around he saw he was still home, he was…home…home.

“Y-yeah, what are you on about?” Jamison said as he sat up, wiping away the sweat from his face, Mei let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“You were screaming in your sleep.” Mei said, Jamison looked at her like she was crazy

“Why the fuck would I be screaming in my sleep?” Jamison asked as he got up and hopped to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

“You were screaming, die I’m not sure why.” Mei said the color left his face, the flash in his mind of the battle he dreamt about, come to fruition. Downing the cup of water, he turned to Mei a grim look on his face.

“Tell me, you ever kill another man?” Jamison asked, walking up to Mei a grim look on his face as he did, she shook her head, “Ever beat a man to death with your bare hands, just moments after he tried to choke you?” He asked, Mei again shook her head. He sat down looked her in the eyes, she could see that all the happiness that once filled them were gone, replaced by memories he wishes would never resurface in his life.

“Prey you never have to.” Jamison said the image of the man he killed flashing in his mind, “Prey that your future sons never have to either.” Jamison said as sat down.

“Was…it hard to take a life?” Mei asked genially curious as to his time as a soldier in the army. He didn’t answer for a long time, he himself unsure how to answer that question, he’d killed men in his time in the war, he remembered each one vividly, the looks of fear plastered forever on their faces a morbid snapshot in time each one looking back at him eyes wide open as they breathed their last breaths.

“Yeah, but you learn to stomach it,” He said not looking Mei in the eyes, “it’s either him or you.” He said as he looked her in the eyes, they weren’t eyes of judgment, simply pity and sorrow for him.

“I...I’ll skip the interview today, I’ll see you tomorrow Jamison.” Mei said as she left him alone in his home. When the door closed he fell over looking at the ceiling his mind not resting.

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said to no one but the ghosts of his memory, the dead men who inhabited his mind, and who haunted his dreams. Looking to the side of him, he saw the bottle of moonshine, grabbing it he chugged it long and hard, he needed to forget his past for a while, he needed just to forgot and booze was the best way to do that, booze didn’t bring up ghosts, booze didn’t make him scream in his sleep. Booze simply dulled the pain, even if only for a while.


	6. The Dawn of a New Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, but I started a new class in college and it's just one of the most annoying things ever. Any way I just finished this and I hope you guys like it, also this is going to be the beginning of the end, I guess there are probably about five to four more chapters that I hope I can do well.

Mei had been in Australia for a little over a month, in that time she’d managed to learn much about the subject that she was writing about one Jamison “Junkrat” Fawkes. She learned he got said nickname when he was in his teens and worked on junked cars, scrounging for parts to make them work and sell them. He was a brash and rather rude man, with a caring heart, scarred and buried by his time in the war, and he drank…a lot. These were all things Mei had written about while she was in Australia.

            Still she had a lot of work left to do, she still had many more interviews to conduct with Jamison to get his life’s story penned and get the soldiers side of the story to the general public. One thing she was glad for was the fact that Jamison had apparently trusted her enough to give her a key to his house, though, that may be just so she wouldn’t knock on his door anymore and wake him up at the wee hours of the morning to interview. The drive to his house was uneventful as per usual. Upon arriving she saw that his truck was still out front, so he was indeed still home.

            Unlocking the door, she smelled something…putrid. She looked around for a moment and saw Jamison on the ground covered in his own vomit, surrounded by a few bottles of moonshine, her mind immediately went on red alert.

            “Jamison!” Mei yelled as she looked around him, loath as she was to touch vomit, she checked his breathing and noted how shallow it was, “Crap, crap, crap.” Mei said as she carefully picked up Jamison and dragged him inside her car. It was time for an impromptu visit to Doctor Zeigler, and she had to hurry least Jamison succumb to his own alcohol induced sickness. Mei drove as fast as she could to Doctor Ziegler’s office propping Jamison up along the way. Opening the door with a loud bang which caused Doctor Ziegler to jump.

            “Mei what- oh my god Jamison!” Angela said as she helped Mei  bring Jamison to one of the hospital beds. Running quickly to her supply area, Angela came back with an IV bag and some tubing alongside an iv syringe. Setting up the IV and placing it inside his right arms vein, she then pulled out a intubation device and began pumping oxygen into his lungs to clear out some of the vomit.

            “Is…he going to be okay doctor?” Mei asked tentatively, watching Jamison being worked on by Doctor Ziegler. Angela ignored her for time being working to keep Jamison alive. After a few minutes she was able to stabilize him and get his heartbeat to a regular beating pattern.

            “He’ll be fine, I’m glad you got him to me as soon as you did.” Angela said as she took off her gloves, she turned to Mei and sighed, “I knew this would happen, but Jamison would not listen to me when I told him to change.” Angela sighed as she went to get some more supplies to keep Jamison hydrated while he got over his alcohol poisoning, Mei looked over Jamison and frowned.

            _Jamison took a long gulp of the water from his canteen. It was a sleepy morning, well as sleepy as one could get on the frontlines of a war. It was nearing dawn and he was on morning watch alongside his buddy Mako. The two were as per usual amongst them shooting the shit and trying to stave off the boredom of morning watch, Jamison was in the middle of a story while Mako  was cleaning out his gun._

_“And so, the bastard tried to tell me that a combustion engine-wait you hear that?” Jamison asked as the two heard a noise in the distance, then a few seconds later a artillery shell burst off in the distance. The Ottomans were shelling them, getting up Jamison raised the alarm._

_“Take cover!” He yelled as some of the awake soldiers all dove for their shelling positions, part of his routine was running and telling the others to do the same. As he ran shells began exploding all around him, it was complete chaos._

_“Shit, shit sh-” Jamison was cut off when a shell exploded almost directly knocking him off his feet and sending him a ways back into the trench he was in, before he could get up another shell exploded near him, and then black._

            Jamison jolted up from the dream and took a groggy look around him, he was in some place, it wasn’t his house as far as he could tell. He looked at his stump of an arm, and his other arm and saw the IV sticking out of it. He was in a hospital or more than likely Doctor Ziegler’s clinic. He saw sleeping in the corner Mei.

            “What the hell happened?” He asked himself, he remembers going on a rather long bender with some booze and then he blacked out, with no memory of what on earth happened afterwards.

            “You had acute alcohol poising.” Jamison heard a voice say, walking into the room to change the IV bag was Angela, “You’re lucky to still be alive, if Miss Zhou had arrived a moment too soon you’d be dead Mister Fawkes.” Angela said as she took the IV and placed a new one in.

            “Mei saved me, why?” Jamison asked, not sure why anyone would save him, he knew that none of the townsfolk would save his drunk sorry ass. He looked at the sleeping woman who saved him.

            “Mei is a nice woman, she did what any upstanding person would do.” Angela said as she left Jamison alone to attend to other matters, he took another look at Mei and sighed. A few hours passed, and Mei woke up with tears in her eyes at seeing that Jamison was okay. He hated seeing her cry, he didn’t know why, but the idea of that just made his heart sink just as far as when he lost his mother. After returning home, Jamison saw for the first time with truly sober eyes what his life had become. If his mother saw him as he was now, she would be appalled how far he’d fallen, he needed help changing-now.

            Doctor Ziegler was used to people waking her up at all hours of the day, a childbirth, an older family member not breathing, all manor of emergency it was all part of being the only doctor in a small town, so she was not surprised when someone came knocking at her door. What she didn’t expect was Jamison to show up, she was usually the one to go to him directly to get him to adhere to his appointments.

            “Um…Jamison, what do you need?” Angela said tired straightening out her night gown, she yawned and looked at the pocket watch she had, it was half-past midnight.

            “I need your help to, I guess kick my habit.” Jamison said looking at Angela with a deep sorrow in his eyes. Angela sighed this was going to be a long road ahead.

            “Jamison I’ve tried to get you to stop for so long, why now?” Angela asked wondering what would make Jamison quite his habit now. She could see his face grow red and he looked down, and he mumbled, much to his embarrassment.

            “I don’t like seeing Mei cry.” He mumbled out, barley above a whisper so Angela could not make it out.

            “What was that?” She asked trying to get him to speak louder, Jamison took a deep sigh and spoke up launder.

            “I don’t like seeing Mei cry, when I woke up and I saw her crying over me it hurt like when I lost my ma.” Jamison said, Angela smiled at this well at least he had a reason now. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a wide grin.

            “Alright, Jamison, come by tomorrow and I’ll help you to the best of my abilities.” Angela said, Jamison nodded and left Angela, she entered her practice and started drawing up plans for Jamison’s rehabilitation.


	7. Help from Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup peoples, as celebration of my 23rd birthday and because I like writing, here's a new chapter. So yay happy birthday to me and new Chapter, (also enjoy the only fourth wall breaking joke in this entire story.)

The thunderous sound of an engine snorted and screamed down an Australian dirt road. Stopping for a moment to bang his goggles against his rotund frame to knock the excess dust from them, Mako Rutledge looked around him, he hated Australia, especially where he was now. He was in this piss hole of a country in his opinion for one reason, the help the idiot who was his brother-in-arms when he was fighting in Gallipoli, that was his friend Jamison “Junkrat” Fawkes.

            “Why did this idiot have to live out in the wops.” Mako said annoyed at where he had to drive, he was surprised when a Doctor Ziegler contacted him and asked him to come to Australia to help a friend  who was apparently on hard times. He had no other reason to go to this crappy backwater of a shithole.

            He arrived at the small town that he was going to be staying in for a few weeks to help his friend. The place reminded him of the town he grew up in in New Zealand, small and homely. He road up to the doctor’s office and knocked on the door once. And waited.

            “Coming, coming!” Mako heard a feminine voice say a few seconds later the door opened and a woman smaller than Mako with blonde hair was standing before him.

            “Ah, I assume you are mister Rutledge, am I correct?” Angela asked, Mako nodded, and Angela brought him inside the doctor’s office. She then led him to a small room, where a glasses wearing Asian woman was busy typing away at a typewriter, absentmindedly  not paying much attention to their surroundings.

            “Ah, Mister Rutledge, meet Mei she is one of the poles helping Jamison get over his addiction.” Angela said as Mei gave a non-enthusiastic wave, “She’s working on a book about your friend.” Mako didn’t say a word instead simply, nodding.

            “He’s a quite one.” Mei noted as she continued to type, “So since he’s here we can go over th Jamison and get this started right?” Mei said as she finished up her typing and put her finished papers into the pile alongside the other papers.

            “Yes, let’s make haste as they say.” Angela said excited to finally help Jamison kick his addiction and get his life around. He plan mostly centered  on the fact that Mako and Jamison were such good friends, and how much of Jamison didn’t like the idea of hurting Mei. Hopefully  those two could help him do his best to not ruin his life any further. It was a longshot and was probably going to take some very heavy work to do so, but hopefully they could succeed.

            The drive to Jamison’s house was rather straight, Mako opted to follow them in his bike than take Mei’s car. Upon arriving, they saw Jamison doing one of his usual activity’s that wasn’t drinking, working on his truck.

            “Jamison, I’ve brought someone who might be of great help to you kicking your addiction.” Angela said as she got out of the car, with Jamison having his head turned away from the group trying to fix his engine which went out again at some point while he was recovering from his alcohol poisoning.

            “Who on bloody earth could you possible bring to…help…me.” Jamison said as he turned to see a giant Maori man with a bandanna covering his lower face. He knew the man anywhere, like a sixth sense, when you fight alongside a man for long enough you share a bond that can’t be broken.

            “Well as I live and breathe, Fucking Mako!” Jamison said as he closed his trucks hood and held out his hand, the larger man took it and the two shared a handshake that only true brothers-in-arms could ever have.

            “It’s been too long buddy, it’s been what?” Jamison thought trying to remember the last time he saw Mako.

            “Six years.” Mako said, the only sentence he’s probably said in almost the entire he’d been in the two women’s company. Jamison nodded finally remembering how long it’s been since he’d seen Mako.

            “Yeah, last you saw of me I was getting carted off by medics with my limbs missing, weren’t I?” Jamison said as he whipped some sweat from his brow. Mako nodded. The next part of the plan was about to begin. Mako and Mei sat next to each other talking to Jamison as he worked on his truck (Angela, couldn’t stay, her obligation as a doctor prevented her.)

            “So, you two worked together right, what was that like?” Mei asked writing down on her notepad, this was going into her book and hopefully could help her better understand how to get Jamison to stop his rather self-destructive behavers.

            “Eh it was great, me and Roadie here would have a blast, well as much of a blast one could have while getting shot at every so often.” Jamison said as he checked his engine to see if it would come alive again, when it started but stopped he scowled, “Hey Roadie, you mind giving me a hand here?” Jamison asked the larger man, who nodded. In the next couple of minutes Mei heard the two talk about mechanical stuff while she couldn’t really wrap her head around much of it (much like the author which is why none of it is being mentioned.) She could see the two shared a bond about some very common things the two liked.

            “So, you keep calling him Roadie, why’s that?” Mei asked as she wrote down some other things in her notepad.

            “Oh, that’s because Roadie here used to ride his cycle during the war, he was a courier or something, before he got transferred to my unit.” Jamison, said as he tried to start his engine up again, with again failure as the result, “Work you fucking hunk of junk!” Jamison said as he got out of his truck and kicked the thing, which somehow managed to get it working.

            “Well would you look at that?” Jamison said laughing as he got his truck working again, “All it need was a good kick in the face and the ol’ girl is running again.” Jamison said admiring the work he’d done.  Jamison turned to Mako who was taking a sip of tea.

            “Well I guess since that’s done, I guess you can help me do what the doc asked.” Jamison said as the three entered his small home, “She wants me to clear out all my booze, thing is I’m not sure where I hid most of it.” Jamison said sheepishly. Aside from the obvious bottles of beer and moonshine, and whisky that Jamison had all around his house, he had unknown bottles just lying around somewhere in the house, and Angela wanted all of it gone from the premise. Not a single drop of it was to remain.

            “Why do you have so much of this crap?” Mako asked as he picked up a bottle of moonshine and tucked it under his arm.

            “Let’s just say I was in a bad place.” Jamison said not wanting to get into how he wallowed in self-inflicted squalor  trying to forget about the bad memories that would rouse their ugly heads whenever he slept. Thus, began a long process of clearing out Jamison’s home of all the alcohol on the premise, after hours of work they managed to find about ten bottles of moonshine, three bottles of whisky and one crate of beer. Going out back the three set them up and now was part of what Mako suggested, Mako had gotten some shotguns from an American friend of his and brought them with him to let Jamison literally shoot the representations of his vice. Rather unorthodox, but Jamison was all for it.

            “You sure this is safe?” Mei asked as she saw Jamison load a shotgun, shell after shell was loaded into the gun. Pumping it once to load the shell into the chamber Jamison aimed and shoot the first bottle of moonshine.

            “Eh, Me and Roddie here have used guns for a while, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Jamison said as he handed the gun to Mei, “Besides, it’s all going to me getting off the stuff, might as well have some fun doing it.” He added, Mei reluctantly took the gun aimed it and managed to glance one of the bottles  destroying it.

            “Makes, life a little more fun.” Mako said, Mei noticed he was finally warming up to her, and so was a lot more comfortable talking to her like he did Jamison. Mei shrugged her shoulders, after a few hours of shooting the bottles,  Mei had to leave leaving Mako and Jamison alone in the setting sun. Sitting drinking tea on his porch.

            “Hey Roadie, you ever been in love before?” Jamison asked Mako who shook his head, “I think I am.” Jamison said as he laid back, his mind flooded with having a fun time just being with Mei.

            “I tell ya, that lady she’s the best thing to ever happen to me, I know I don’t deserve a woman like that to like me, but eh, a man can dream, can’t he?” Jamison said making Mako chuckle, thinking back to the conversation he had a long time ago with his friend while on the frontlines of Gallipoli.

            “You remember what you said you were gonna do when you got back home?” Mako asked Jamison, who thought for a few moments, then nodded. It was a pipe dream at the time, he had no idea he was going to end up in the shittiest situation of his entire life.

            “Yeah, marry some lady, and retire, you think she’s the one?” Jamison asked, Mako shrugged his shoulders. Eventually Mako returned to town to sleep in the only motel in the town, leaving Jamison alone. He thought about his life, again, how much he had thrown at him the hardships he’d had to endure. He was still alive, despite all of them. Even if he’d never be worthy of any of the things Mei had given him, hope and someone to be better for, he’d work hard to get even within an inch of that worth.


	8. Of Sleeping and Kissing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So begins the ending, probably about two or three chapters left until we hit the ending of this story, I hope I haven't rushed anything in terms of writing the story, any way I hope you guys enjoy.

They say thoughts are like small insects buzzing around one's head, they buzz and cause the inner machinations of one’s ideas. That’s what Jamison was thinking as he laid down on his sofa, he dreaded going to sleep, for they brought about memories that he wished stayed buried in the sands of Gallipoli. Nightmares spurned from sights he wished had not been seen, and things he wish no man would ever have to go through. That was part of why he took to his vice of drinking, they…took the memories away, if only for a short time but, now that he was trying to break this habit he couldn’t use that to escape his memories.

Jamison sighed, he looked at the clock on his side and saw that it was morning and Mei would be coming any moment now, and he was still as tired as he could ever be in his own life. Hearing the knock on the door he let out a tired groan.

“Jamison, you okay?” Mei asked through the other side of the door, Jamison got up and opened the door, Mei had a key to his house but, he still felt it was a good idea to go to the door and greet her.

“Oh my, Jamison you look dreadful.” Mei said as she looked at Jamison, he had bags under his eyes and he had the general look of someone who hadn’t slept in days, which he hadn’t it had been two days since he had anything even resembling a good night’s sleep.

“Y-yeah? I guess you could say that.” Jamison said as he sat down on hic couch, his eyes weary with tiredness and sleep deprivation, “Bu-but I can keep going today I don’t mind it.” Jamison said as he laid down on the sofa, before Mei could give an answer he dozed off, finally succumbing to the sleep he so desperately needed. Mei sighed and rubbed his head she could wait until he got his rest. She’d never seen Jamison sleep before, he seemed relatively peaceful considering how much of his life was mostly hardships but, you can’t be hardships at all times, a person needs some respite at some point.

Mei looked over her notes and continued to gather her thoughts, before she heard him start screaming, just like when she found him earlier, she then heard Jamison gasp for breath before waking up again his breathing ragged and labored and he was covered in sweat.

“M-Mei what are you still doing here?” Jamison asked as he wiped the sweat away from his brow and sat up on the couch.

“I was waiting for you to wake up, I see you still scream in your sleep.” Mei said as she put away her notepad. Jamison frowned, he didn’t like people knowing that especially not Mei, he saw the look of concern on her face and smiled.

“It’s no problem, just…I guess a side effect of being me I guess.”  Jamison said as he turned to Mei and smiled, “I can live with it.” Jamison said as he tried to get to sleep again. Mei waited for him to fall asleep before she began holding him, she wanted to give him some kind of peace in his sleep, she was already working with Angela and Mako to give him some peace by getting over his alcoholism. Mei eventually feel asleep with Jamison in her arms. A few hours later Jamison woke up. He felt refreshed for once, a huge improvement compared to the last couple of years in his life.

            He glanced at his right and saw Mei holding him and started panicking. He tried to untangle himself from her, but this seemed to have the opposite effect and Mei tightened her grip on him bringing his face closer to her rather… ample bosom. He began breathing heavily trying to get out of her rather strong grip, with each struggle bringing him closer to her breasts, he really hoped she didn’t wake up at this point because he would hate having to try to explain this as anything but, something bad.

Finally, he was able to remove himself from Mei’s grip and let out a relieved sigh, while he did like Mei and if this were in any other situation he would be happy to be that close to her, he was not going to do it in that way. He decided it was best to wake Mei up and began trying to rouse her from her sleep.

“Hey, snowflake, I think you might wanna wake up.” Jamison said as he began shaking Mei gently, yawning Mei stretched looking around her she saw she was still in Jamison’s house and realized she must have dozed off.

“Oh, sorry Jamison, I must have dozed off.” Mei said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, Jamison noted she was rather cute doing that but, put that thought aside.

“No problem, um I mind if I ask why you were holding me in my sleep?” Jamison asked hoping the question wouldn’t come off as rude, Mei seemed to not take it that way and gave him a timely response.

“Oh, that. I thought it might help you sleep better, did you not like it?” Mei asked, having thought she had overstepped her boundaries.

“Nah, probably the best sleep I’ve had in months.” Jamison said as he tried to not look as bashful, the two looked at one another, a few inches of distance between the two, and as if acting upon just instinct and feelings alone the two brought their lips together for a split second. A first tentative foray into this whole new part of their relationship, they stopped for a several second as if to wonder to one another if they should continue, Then Mei brought her lips back to his and the two continued. Getting bolder, Jamison managed to move Mei, so he was over her, the two still continuing their impromptu make out session.

Pulling apart, he two’s breathing were heavy looking each other in the eyes. Jamison moved his lips to Mei’s neck, each hot breath he breathed on it causing shivers down her spine. Kissing and suckling at her neck, Mei let out a small whine of pleasure as she felt Jamison’s now erect member press into her panties, she let out a gasp before pushing him away.

“So-sorry I forgot I had I- had something to do, I…I’ll see you tomorrow Jamison.” Mei said slightly embarrassed at how far she nearly took what just happened. She rushed out the door leaving a rather embarrassed Jamison behind.

“Y-yeah, see you tomorrow.” Jamison said hoping he didn’t push things too far and he ruined his only chance with her. Meanwhile Mei was trying to calm herself. She didn’t know if she should be ashamed of herself or be embarrassed, she’d almost done that. She adjusted her glasses and let out a small sigh, tomorrow was going to be rather awkward. Returning to her room, Mei tried to put what she almost did behind her, but her mind was filled with ideas of what would happen if they continued. Her mind had some rather lewd ideas. She pushed those to the back of her mind and tried to write up the rest of her book, but her mind and libido had other ideas. Groaning she laid on her bed and let out tired sigh.

“Deep breaths Mei, deep breaths.” Mei said as she tried to calm herself down. A few deep breaths later, she was less horny and could think straight. She went back to her work, falling asleep on her desk as per her usual work nights. Waking up the next morning Mei showered, got dressed redid her hair and went to Jamison’s house to continue the interview she was supposed to do

Jamison was working on his truck again, when Mei came towards the house.

“Hey, Jamison?” Mei said in her normal cheery voice, Jamison bumped his head on his trucks hood having jumped at the sound of Mei’s voice. He turned to her and  let out a groan rubbing his head.

“Hey,” Jamison said as he removed himself from the engine of his truck and walked to her, he was rubbing the back of his head, trying to gather up the courage to talk about what they did the day before, “Hey…um I didn’t push you too far yesterday, did I?” Jamison asked a bit of fear and trepidation in his face, Mei thought for a moment and then remembered what happened the day before and looked away bashful, before realizing what she was doing and corrected herself.

“No, it was…fine, it was just…unexpected.” Mei said smiling at him, Jamison rubbed the back of his head and tried to gather the courage to say what he was going to talk about next.

“L-look Mei, I, god this is harder than I thought it would be,” Jamison said trying to gather his thoughts, trying to make sure he didn’t come off as an idiot, “I like you, god I like you a lot, you’re probably the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.” Jamison said, Mei was rather surprised at how brazen he was in this moment, she also never seen him look this vulnerable except when he admitted to how he felt when he talked about his mother.

“Look Mei, I know I ain’t deserving of any woman as good as you, I just wanted to know I didn’t push ya away, is all.” Jamison said, probably the most vulnerable he’d ever felt in his life, he’d never pend up to another person like this, not even Mako brought this out of him, and Mako was his best friend.

“Jamison…” Mei said, she held her hand up this his cheek and smiled, “You aren’t going to push me away.” Mei said as she pulled him into a hug, Jamison, never felt more happier than in this one moment. Feeling like he could do anything Jamison lifted Mei off her feet much to her surprise. Today was the next step to a new chapter in Jamison’s life, and he wanted Mei to be part  of every single moment of it. He was in love and nothing could stop him from doing anything to prove it to Mei.


	9. Of Love and First Times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, my english class for university is basically taking up all my writing time, any way I feel this chapter is a bit rushed, but I wanted to finish itu p as quickly as I could anyway enjoy and what not. Next chapter should be the end of the story, not sure if I'm gonna make a sequel or work on a spinoff about another Overwatch ship, maybe Symmphony or Zaryahog. I'll decide when I get to that.

Mei had expected many things when she started her trip to Australia, she was prepared for a number of things from not being able to get a hotel, to the as far as she was concerned pretty casual racism against her, everything under the sun. What she didn’t count on was, well starting a relationship. Then again, most writes don’t consider starting anything more intimate than a few interviews and meetings with their subjects but, here she was starting a relationship with the subject of her book, god she hoped this wouldn’t come off as a conflict of interest when published.

Still the fact that Jamison was now opining up to her, more and more was a godsend for the book, she’d learned a lot of things about him, how his life turned the way it did, and many other things about him that he was simply not privy to telling her when they first started their meetings. This was one such meeting, it was a couple of weeks after they began their relationship with one another. Mei was sitting opposite of Jamison checking her notes for the day when he sprung a question on her for once, and it was one that caught her off guard completely.

“So…um you ever you know…do what we almost did that day?” Jamison aske, Mei’s eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets in surprise, she knew Jamison was rather brash when it came to speaking his mind but, to ask that was rather bold even for him.

“W-Well I-I mean I did once with a guy who I was supposed to marry.” Mei stuttered out, remembering a part of her past she had buried a long time ago when she left China. Jamison’s eyebrow raised at this new bit of info on Mei, while Mei knew a great amount about him, he didn’t really know much of her besides she was from China but living in America.

“You almost got married?” Jamison asked intrigued at this development, Mei could tell he would not drop the question so with a heavy sigh she opened up about that part of her past.

“It’s not much of a tale, it wasn’t really my idea, my family needed some money and my father promised my hand in marriage to one of his more wealthier friend’s sons.” Mei said remembering the exact conversation with her father, “I didn’t go through with it, of course, my brother managed to somehow get me onto the next ship heading for America, how I even got in is beyond me,” Mei said thinking of the good luck she had getting into America considering the prejudice that existed against her race.

“That’s the story, and to as to why I slept with him, he said it was practice for our wedding night, it was barley anything I even remember.” Mei said not even remembering what her old fiancé’s face looked like let alone what he was like in bed, but considering they were both fifteen and fourteen at the time, probably bad. She put that thought aside.

“That’s the first new thing I’ve learned about ya, you know that?” Jamison said, Mei smiled at this, she got up from her seat and sat down next to Jamison, getting as close as she could while intertwining her hand with his, she could see his face go red, then again, he probably could see the same on her more pale complexion, this was her first real relationship with anyone and it was new experience to her, with the only relationship she ever had was one she didn’t even want to be in in the first place.

“Well I’m willing to tell you a lot about myself, I mean I know a lot about you, so why not.” Mei said as she squeezed his hand tighter.

“Um, okay Uh, so I know you’re from China, but where?” Jamison asked, Mei was surprised by this most people didn’t bother to ask her where she was from in China, then again, most people didn’t really care to know more about her homeland aside from the stereotypes they knew of.

“I am from Zhejiang, I lived in a small fishing village on the coast.” Mei said as thoughts of her homeland flashed in her mind, her village was a nice place, she could remember helping her father run the fish stand and other things of her childhood.

“Never heard of it, but if it can make a lady as good as you, the place must be great.” Jamison said making Mei blush harder than she normally would have, Jamison noticed this and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, Mei was taken aback for a split second, but reciprocated the kiss with gusto. Placing his hand around her waist, Jamison gently pushed Mei down.

“Um, we don’t have to-” Before Jamison could finish Mei pulled Jamison down into another hungry kiss, biting his lower lips indicating she wanted him to open his mouth. Slowly opining his mouth, he felt Mei’s tongue enter his mouth and he let out a groan, feeling himself getting harder and harder. Separating from him, Mei smiled up at him.

“I don’t mind Jamison, so keep it up.” Mei said as she placed her hand on his face, feeling the heat of his skin on hers. Jamison emboldened by Mei’s encouragement placed his lips on her neck, kissing and sucking it making her let out a small moan of pleasure clutching her hand around her back. Pulling him in closer feeling his hard cock tenting through his pants, making her let out a gasp.

“J-Jamison…” Mei said as she grinded slightly on his member making Jamison groan in pleasure as he pushed back, allowing her to feel even more of his hardness pressing against her most sensitive area. Wanting to see more of her body and touch more of her pale skin, Jamison began to undo the buttons that were part of Mei’s dress. Something he embarrassedly had to be helped with by Mei due to his lack of another arm to make this work. When her dress was completely unbuttoned, Jamison opened it like one would slowly open a present during Christmas, finally all her body was revealed for Jamison to see, not that he hadn’t seen her naked before, but this was the first time he’d seen her nude, and it was intentional. And all he had to say to her was this.

“Gods your beautiful.” Jamison said as he finally got a good look at Mei, her body was pale, with a few spots of little tanned areas where her dress didn’t quite cover her skin, her ample breasts were bare and on display for Jamison to ogle and touch, seeing how intently Jamison was looking at her Mei’s face flushed red.

“S-stop staring so much.” Mei said averting her eyes, Jamison smiled as he put his face near one of Mei’s breasts and began to gently suckle from it making her shudder with pleasure. His hand lowered downward towards Mei’s pussy and he gently touched the outside of her entrance, she was soaking wet. Slowly he entered her pussy and began fingering Mei slowly and steadily. Groaning and moaning Mei was trying to stifle her sounds out of mostly embarrassment.

“You doing okay, love?” Jamison asked seeing Mei trying to stifle her moans, she nodded and let out a small groan.  Placing his mouth on then ape of Mei’s neck he began to kiss her suck at it, leaving a mark on her pale skin.

“Jamison, I want you in me now.” Mei said in as sultry a voice as she could manage. Jamison’s heart nearly stopped at that saying, he swallowed his fear and began to undo his pants until he was naked from the waist down. His cock was hard and twitching waiting to enter Mei’s waiting sex.

“R-right, here I go.” Jamison said carefully lining up his cock to penetrate Mei. Taking a few deep breaths, he slowly plunged his member into Mei, when he fully entered her he slowly began to back out, in and out building up a slow and steady tempo for their fucking. Each thrust sent a jolt of pleasure through both of them, like a small strike fo lighting igniting a fire inside of them. Feeling this fire getting hotter and hotter in him, Jamison picked up his tempo. 

“F-fuck.” Jamison said as he felt himself go over his edge. With a groan of pleasure, a he came inside Mei. Shot after shot of his seed flooding her welcoming womb. When he was done he removed his now flaccid cock from her and gave her an apologetic smile, “Eh I guess I’m not used to this kind of stuff.” Jamison said embarrassed at his rather premature showing

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can get better at it.” Mei said as she held Jamison close to her. She could feel his heart beating a mile a minute in his chest, it was comforting. The two stayed cuddled together, for a while before Mei went out back to clean herself up. Giving Jamison a goodbye kiss Mei returned to Doctor Ziegler’s practice where the doctor was overseeing young expecting mother who was coming in for a checkup.

“Oh, hello Mei, how was your time with mister Jamison.” Angela said as she finished her checkup of the woman and sent her on her way. Mei thought of her rather intimate time with Jamison and let out a content sigh.

“it was fun.” Mei said as she turned in for the night. A few days passed, and Jamison and Mei were sitting outside of Jamison’s house looking at the stars their hands intertwined.

“So, you nearing completion of your book?” Jamison asked as he took a sip of some lukewarm tea. Mei had called the interview they were doing one of the final ones, this made Jamison’s heart sink a bit, while he was glad that Mei was about to reach her goal, the idea of her leaving him to head back to America was a bit of a heartbreaking idea.

“Yes, part of me doesn’t want to, I like it here…with you.” Mei said as she snuggled closer to Jamison, “You know you were probably the orneriest person when I first met you.” Mei said remembering their first meeting all those months ago.

“Well that and in the worst shape I’ve ever seen someone, you seemed less like a veteran of the Great War, and more like some random drunk I’d meat in New York.” Mei said as her mind flashed to what Jamison was before he cleaned himself up.

“Yeah, I was in a dark place, but well I had a beacon to strive towards.” Jamison said a smile on his face, “Look um…Mei I know this is rather sudden, but um…would you um…become my wife?” Jamison asked his heart was beating a mile a minute. As he waited for Mei to give him an answer. Instead of an answer Mei laid her head on his lap.

“Jamison, you know Mako told me your plans for when you left the Anzacs.” Mei said as she reached her hand to stroke Jamison’s cheek, “I’ll stay with you as long as I can, so yes…I’ll be your wife.” Mei said a smile on her face.


End file.
